Bladesong
by Isaac A. Drake
Summary: Lily's father came from another plane, a realm far away with far different magic, a realm called Exandria. Hiding these alternate magical origins for years he eventually steps in to help fight the war against Voldemort...and can not prevent destiny from having its way with his daughter. Now he must hope he can change his grandson's fate instead.
1. Theodore

Author's Note: Not even going to explain what I am doing with this. Good luck figuring it out y'all.

Chapter 1: Theodore

Theodore Evans carved his way through the battlefield as if possessed by the kind of rampaging orc he spent his youth defending his homeland against.

Off in the distance his half-elven eyes could see his daughter, Lily, and her new husband, James, dueling the Dark Lord Voldemort in tandem.

It was supposed to be him. He was the master wizard from another world. A heroic bladesinger for whom magic was as natural as breathing and doling out death to evildoers was like walking.

And yet here he was, on the other side of the battlefield, pinned down by the Lestranges, all three of them, and dodging Killing Curses coming at him from three different angles.

He was exhausted and down to mostly just his cantrips after killing one of Voldemort's oldest lieutenants, Hugh Avery Sr.

That duel had taken many high level spells that drained his energy down to the pathetic levels he was currently operating at.

While a perfectly timed Tenser's Transformation had allowed him to finish the job these upstart young Death Eaters had jumped him almost as soon as the spell had finished, they had obviously been stalking him under disillusionment the entire time he had used the rest of the spell's duration to rampage through lower level minions.

A shimmering shield appeared in front of him with a twist of his wrist causing his Moonblade to weave a pattern that caused the magical energy to blossom forth and deflect the Blood Boiling Curse that was thrown at him.

Either they were weakening or they were going for spells that were quicker and had less obvious paths than the Killing Curse.

"You fight like a foul Muggle, strange man!" One of the two Lestrange brothers called out.

"Eat your words miscreant! For I am the truest of Wizards! From a lineage of Bladesingers going back millennia. You and your ilk are the backwards goblinoids not living up to the magic within you!" Theodore retorted as he took one hand off his blade to send a Fire Bolt hurtling towards them with a hand gesture.

"Which of thee could cast such wandless magic? Which of thee can best me in a true duel? The answer lies...in your deaths!"

With that smallest of warnings the dimensionally displaced half-elf shot forward moving his blade in an elaborate design finishing off with a flourishing arc that sent a wave of force right into the silent Lestrange brother.

The wizard was sent flying backwards fifteen feet, with at least a few broken ribs.

However before Theodore could press his advantage a single went up from Voldemort and all the Death Eaters began to apparate away as their own anti-apparition ward came down to allow escape.

Bellatrix grabbed the downed man and escaped with him.

"Damnation..." Theodore growled, before turning his attention to the other side of the battlefield, where his daughter knelt next to her exhausted, but still alive husband.

It was, to the graying Theodore, a relieving inversion of a memory fifty-odd years past.

The caves deep beneath the Tormor Falls were magical, mystical, and ever shifting. Teo'drine's party had thought all they were dealing with were a few missing people. Something marginally telepathic or empathic the likely perpetrator.

The abeloth had been a surprise, but not an insurmountable one.

It was the mindflayer lich that had torn the party apart.

The roving blood hunter who had recently joined their small party, Bryon, had been the first to go. Having done the most damage to the abeloth with his Blood Maledicts and elemental swords the lich struck with a Disintegrate from the darkness before anyone knew it was there.

The three remaining party members, Teo'drine and his two best friends, were frozen in shock for just a moment.

Bal'rio, Teo'drine's cousin on his father's side and fellow descendant of Warden Celindar, was an accomplished practitioner of arcane archery and recovered first. A glowing arrow shot from his bow followed quickly by a second arrow, this time shrouded in shadow.

A mystical shield of energy popped up around the lich, deflecting the shots, and it was quickly followed by mirror images of the creature splitting off and shuffling until it was impossible to tell which was the original.

Teo's specialty was fighting other mages however, thus he quickly cast a Crown of Stars that circled quickly before shooting out at all the images, forcing the lich on a brief defensive, which allowed their final party member to act.

Lidria was a powerful Light Cleric who followed the Archeart. The beautiful cleric, in her billowing robes was glowing with divine light and energy as she held out the moons and star symbol of her deity in front of her. Bal'rio's betrothed let loose the most powerful Turn Undead of her life.

And the lich simply laughed at her as the divine energy washed over it in a wave.

Suddenly it had dimension doored behind the group and Teo'drine cast two consecutive counterspells, frustrating the creature, as his companions reoriented themselves.

But the third counterspell failed, and the creature had turned its attention upon Teo'drine. Power Word Stun was one of the most powerful spells in existence. And it broke right through Teo's defenses and suddenly he found himself incapable of moving.

Or defending his friends.

The onslaught of spells would have been impressive if he were not seeing it be used against his friends.

Two acid arrows and a blight found their way past Bal'rio's acrobatic dodging, sending him to a knee in pain, however before the undead could finish him off a glowing and angelic winged elf appeared in front to protect him.

Lidria had brought a celestial guardian of the Archeart to bear on the creature. The radiant damage seemed to make the undead mage pause, though it still pressed on with its attack.

It wasted a Finger of Death to banish the celestial guardian, but that gave it the opening to let loose a powerful mind blast.

Teo'drine watched helplessly as Bal'rio, heir to the lineage of Celindar, was psychically traumatized into brain death.

He slumped onto the ground and once Lidria had recovered a moment later she let out a cry of despair and cradled his brain dead body in her arms sobbing.

With a laugh another disintegrate lashed out and before Teo'drine's eyes his two best friends were wiped off of the face of Exandria.

"So this is how I die? The great-grandson of Celindar on one side and Vex'ahlia on the other is killed by a lich. The kind of thing my ancestors would eat for breakfast before taking on ancient dragons for lunch. How...disgraceful," Teo'drine thought to himself.

The mindflayer lich walked closer to him and then cocked its grotesque head to the side in what appeared to be curiosity.

"Oh this is rich," the mental voice of the lich pierced Teo's brain painfully.

"The scion of the man who ended my mortal life is here in front of me."

Now Teo'drine was very confused, but still stunned into place.

"Tell me de Rollo...does Vex'ahlia still live? Has she passed on the stories of Vox Machina to you?"

And there came the dread. A former enemy of his ancestor probably meant torture. Or worse.

"How they accepted the aid of Clarota only to betray him in the end? To end my mortal life with one of the de Rollo's accursed bullets to my magnificent brain?"

And it wasn't even one of their more powerful foes either. Very embarrassing.

"Luckily I had prepared a phylactery, just in case such an event occurred, though I thought it would be at the eyes of the Beholder. In repayment how about I make you part of my little experiment here hmm? I've been throwing people through this portal to try and get a read on where it goes. How about I throw you through next? Maybe you live, maybe you die, maybe whatever is on the other side is worse than death! Either way I get useful data, I have yet to send any through who were as mediocrely talented as you, perhaps this will work better for me. Good riddance de Rollo-spawn."

With a gesture the stunned Teo'drine was sent through the air and through a stone archway...and into and past a plane of death and spirits and out the other end of some strange arcane tunnel.

And the rest as they say...is history.


	2. Destiny

Author's Note: So to answer some questions about this- yes Harry will get 'the best of both worlds' in regards to his magic skills. But in some unique ways and definitely not in a way that will have him steamrolling the world. If you cannot tell I am also setting up wizards like Dumbledore, and Voldemort, (And yes Harry) to be a Big Deal. And powerful enough to not be an easy thing to get around with limited spell slots.

Of course Voldemort is just a Bad Match-up for Theodore's talents. Versatility Theodore can outthink and overpower. But Versatility with Power and Cunning? Theodore has a problem with that combination. And to be fair so does literally everybody.  
Bonus: Rune Magus: I won't address your whole review bc I like to save some surprises, and I don't have a very extensive profile, but you'll be pleasantly surprised because I am literally a pseudo-pagan archaeologist of Irish descent who loves their ancestors' lore to death. And I'm gonna hardcore mesh Earth and Exandria magic together in Harry. There's a reason I went with Exandria instead of the Forgotten Realms other than my love for Critical Role.

Chapter 2: Destiny

"I am not sure how much your strange magic can protect them friend. Truly do you have any spell equalling or surpassing the Fidelius? Already three Potter properties that were heavily warded have been destroyed in Lord Voldemort's hunt for young Harry," Dumbledore elaborated.

With a deep sigh Theodore, the name he had taken forty years ago when he had arrived upon this plane, contemplated his vast knowledge of the arcane.

As he had never managed to find a way to cast Wish and he was not a cleric that could beseech some deity...and likely one that could not reach this realm anyways, he came up empty handed.

Besides, as a Bladesinger his spells had never really focused on large scale warding. He was a mage of war, using spell and sword to slaughter the foes of all good beings.

And he was lacking in this war. So lacking. He had managed to duel Voldemort once.

The duel had cost him his right hand to Fiendfyre. Oh he was ambidextrous to begin with so he was not out of combat.

But it had been a blow to his ego.

Even though he had found ways to make his known spells counter the Killing Curse he had still been defeated. A Crown of Stars and a Mordenkainen's Sword to deflect the sickly evil green blasts had drained too much of his energy for him to cast enough other spells to close in to melee with the Dark Lord.

The closest he had come was getting a good solid Booming Blade in thanks to his speed with Investiture of the Wind.

And that had caused the enraged Dark Lord to let loose the Fiendfyre.

He could kill any five wizards in this world, except for the once in a generation wizards like Dumbledore and Voldemort it seemed.

The kind of magic they threw around just made his technical and intellectual skills irrelevant.

It was as if they were both Sorcerer and Wizard at the same moment. It was infuriating.

Perhaps if he had access to a library of his home realm's magic he could find ways around the problem, more situationally useful spells, magical artifacts, and such.

All he had were his family Moonblade, his bag of holding, and the Ring of Shooting Stars.

Well he had some other magical knick-knacks he had picked up in his adventures as well, but those were what he used the most. Oh sure he had used his Wand of the War Mage to pass as a normal Wizard his first few decades in the world.

But eventually he had disappeared into the Muggle world, where he met his beloved Rosemary.

He had one wish left on a Ring of Three Wishes...but he could not figure out how to turn a single Wish into a ward more potent than the Fidelius. He would instead give the ring to Lily for her to use in an emergency, that was the most he could do.

"No old friend, I cannot say I have a method in this realm of aiding better."

Theodore and Albus had known each other a long time, Albus had in fact been working with the Unspeakables to find ways to undo much of Grindelwald's damage and curses to various areas of Europe when Teo'drine came through the Veil of Death much to everyone's surprise.

Unfortunately they had also quickly discovered it was a one way trip, any who passed through could not pass back. And it was unknown whether it went to the same location every time or in fact portaled through a nexus.

And so Theodore had taken up a new name and in return for shelter and learning of the new world he found himself in had aided Albus and his Unspeakable allies in their secret quest to root out the followers of Grindelwald's influence across the Iron Curtain where it had secretly thrived.

"Albus...I...please protect my daughter, Petunia forsook us after dear Rosemary died. She, and now little Harry, are all I have left."

The bearded, aged wizard reached out and placed a hand on his old friend's shoulder as the half-elven man sat crying silent tears in his favorite leather armchair.

"I will be doing my best, Theo. Voldemort shall not get the best of us, and if young Harry truly is his downfall we have quite the road ahead of us."

Theodore grunted, "Power he knows not'. It almost has to come from my side of things doesn't it?"

"Indeed, from what you have told me of your world I think it would have to. Some kind of sorcerous bloodline from your elven half perhaps? Latent until mixed with the natural magic of James Potter's blood?"

"It's a distinct possibility," his fingers steepled together in thought, "A member of my family was once a Champion of the Raven Queen even. Though I know not how she could reach us here."

"The...grim reaper of your world?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Hmm not quite, imagine Hel from your Nordic pantheon with a bit of Thanatos from the Greek if I understand correctly."

"It's fascinating that in your world there were so many deities so closely involved with events. Why in this one I have yet to even find definitive proof of the most worshipped of deities."

"I think it is the preponderance of Muggles here, Albus. With the mages all locking themselves away in their own little hideaways the deities have to be just as subtle and distant or the Muggles would react poorly."

"As magic withdrew from the world so too did the gods...I cannot say it is not a theorem that has not been tossed around in a few circles."

With a chuckle Theodore stood to his feet, his complexion slightly renewed from the harrowed look he had previously had, "A good intellectual discussion always raises my spirits, you know me too well, dear friend. However I think it's time you head back to your school."

"Yes, as nice as your house is Cokesworth itself is a bit...mundane for a man such as myself is it not?" Albus chuckled at his own joke and politely turned to leave, collecting his multicolor umbrella from the stand on his way off.

Once Albus had departed Theodore hastily made his way to his study. With a gesture and slight use of Thaumaturgy a blackboard rolled down from the ceiling and he swiftly drew a tall rectangle lined in runes with a piece of chalk.

A few muttered words of Elvish and he was walking through a black portal into his personal demiplane.

In this demiplane he stored all his knowledge and research, from both Exandria and Earth. While he had never been able to copy new spells into his books on Earth, it seemed his magic was incompatible with how spells were created here, he had managed to store some scrolls during his adventures here that had allowed him to transcribe some more into his personal grimoire.

And an extra copy of Xanathar's Guide to Everything was never without its own usefulness. In fact study of that tome, along with a few others, had been how he had puzzles out the way to cast the Crown of Stars spell which he had used to great success against the Unforgivables in the past.

Of course without a scrolls with a perfect and complete incantation to transcribe such study had taken him much of 1964 to complete.

Having a Cruciatus Curse pierce your Shield spell once was enough to be determined to find ways to stop a recurrence.

His current project was a spell he had previously found abhorrent and which he had not even begun to study until his family was in immediate targeted danger.

"Soul Cage..." He knew he could use it to interrogate dead Death Eaters, and hopefully find Voldemort's weaknesses and plans.

Which he could use to protect his Lily, and little Harry.

There were no limits to which a de Rollo would not pass to protect their family.

If there were any demons he could cavort with in this realm Theodore would have called on them just like his ancestor had.

But instead, he was simply left with reverse engineering necromancy spells.


	3. Innocence

Author's Note: Short chapter to get us a few years forward and Harry involved.

Chapter 3: Innocence

Theodore glanced over the top of his newspaper as a high-pitched 'roar' echoed through the sitting room followed by a crash of collapsing Legos.

Harry had knocked down his castle of blocks as it was attacked by one of his toy dinosaurs with the one spell his grandfather had agreed to teach him before he went off to Hogwarts at age eleven, the thaumaturgy cantrip.

Of course he was only seven and thus used it to endless amusement in his games.

Dinosaur attack being one of his favorite games.

It was fascinating to Theodore, having lived amongst the wizards then the muggles and then raised a 'muggleborn' daughter and a muggle daughter at the same time, the way Harry mixed the two worlds in a way he had never previously dreamed of.

He attended primary school during the week, and most weekends Theodore took Harry out to different parts of Wizarding Britain to socialize with various children of members of the Order of the Phoenix, admittedly the only thing close to friends Theodore could say he had whom also had children Harry's age.

Well some of his older acquaintances had grandchildren who qualified, but Augusta's grandson was also Frank and Alice's son and thus counted under both categories.

The aging half-elf watched as his grandson began diligently rebuilding his multicolored fortress into a ship instead this time, and run to his toy box to switch out the dinosaur for the large rubber snake which was now a 'sea serpent'.

Truly the mind of a child was a wonder. He thought back to the days where he would watch both his little girls laying out on the carpet with coloring books out in front of them and crayons strewn across the entire sitting room. The very same sitting room in fact.

He had never met his other grandson, Petunia had effectively cut herself off from 'freakishness' to the point where he had learned from a mutual acquaintance that she was telling people he had died in the same 'accident' that had claimed her mother.

The fact that that accident had been a hate crime attack against the mother of a perceived muggleborn prefect at Hogwarts was ignored, no a gas main had just mysteriously burst right as her mother was driving past in her car that was all.

He was honestly scared that he had gone so wrong with a daughter that not inheriting magic had damaged her so much meant he was actually a bad parent.

Though, looking at the smile on Harry's face, he considered that perhaps he was two for three and that was an okay success rate.

Theodore was grateful that Harry could know both worlds in a way Lily and Petunia had not been able to, in retrospect locking himself out of the Wizarding World after he left the Unspeakables had been a mistake.

He was only glad that he had stopped Albus from declaring Harry himself as the cause of Voldemort's fall, he had arrived as Albus was analyzing the house at Godric's Hallow and had been able to ascertain a little more of Lily's methods in protecting Harry.

Clutched in Lily's hands, even in death, was a familiar ring.

"She did it, she managed to mix our magics, Albus!" Theodore's pride in his daughter came bittersweet.

"It was more than a blood sacrifice?" Albus inquired skeptically, his spells had not registered anything else.

"She used the last 'Wish' spell from my ring to supercharge those protections she put on Harry," indeed he was seeing those results with his Detect Magic and Identify spells as he spoke.

There was also a hint of something more complex, but neither Theodore nor Albus could unravel the entire working to see what Lily had done step by step.

"Well the boy appears okay, thank Merlin," Albus intoned, "And he did as was prophecized and defeated Voldemort."

At that Theodore looked up from his infant grandson in his arms, "I beg your pardon?"

"No, it was Lily's ward that repelled the Killing Curse, she banished him. And believe you me, it was only banished. His foul magic left behind reeks of phylactery and lich."

Albus blinked, "Phylactery is a word I know well, however liches are just myths. No wizard has properly utilized that magic to achieve what muggle folklore speaks of."

Theodore snorted, "No wizard on Earth perhaps, until now. That magic is quite common amongst the dark magic users in my realm, and the ashes of Voldemort's body were stinking with a similar magic."

Albus's brows furrowed before he let out a hiss, "Horcrux. I never thought he would go so far, so depraved."

His friend's brows shot the opposite direction, straight up, "There is a magic here that is close?"

"Unfortunately. I thought the information was effectively erased from our histories however. It appears I was incorrect. Yes this was Lily's victory, you are right. Voldemort will be back and that is when Harry's time will come," He turned to his old friend.

"You are up to the task, Theodore?"

"Of raising my own grandson you mean?"

"Of raising your grandson to fight a monster."

"My entire family line has been fighting monsters since time eternal old friend. And from what I have heard of the Potters it appears fighting monsters is in his blood thrice over."

"Yes...that will have to do. You will train him in your ways and when he comes to Hogwarts he will train in ours. And perhaps he can do what neither of us has managed to do, and do so before the end unlike his mother."

"Fuse our magics, yes and perhaps outside of pure ritual. It is possible with the inclusion of the Potter blood."

Neither man had given a thought to the scar upon the young boy's forehead as they departed.

And six years later it was simply an oddity for how prominent it remained.


End file.
